And So We Meet Again
by Ileana DuBaer
Summary: Sequel to Crash World. Yugi had gotten sick of his friends ignoring him and left. A year later, he is thousands of miles away and making his own living. What will he do when fate brings them together again?
1. Prologue: Crash World

Yay! I finally motivated myself to write this. This is the sequel to my songfic Crash World. You can check that out if you want to but this is a prologue of what happened from Yami's point of view. I know that the events in the series are no where close to being like this but a girl can dream, right? Also note that I'm using the awful dubbed names of the characters but I honestly can not spell them right without checking a source everytime. And I decided that Atemu will be just Yami.

This story is dedicated to Sefle Lynne tilmitt for leaving a very uplifting review and inspiring me to write this

The chapter is for i love athrun, Ecea, Crimson blood of Dragons, I-Shave-Clowns, and MikariStar. Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! -sigh-

_------_

_Go on get out of my head  
I'm on the wrong side of a parralel universe  
__Am I alive or just dead  
__I've been stumbling in the dark  
__Living in a Crash World_

_------_

_Yami casually flipped the burgers for the last time as his friends brought out the condiments at their front yard graduation bash. Their voices rose up to the sky as the sun worked its way below the horizon. A smile tugged at his lips as he once again mused at how he, an ancient Egyptian pharaoh and former spirit of the Millenium Puzzle, had gotten his high school diploma. From a modem Japanese high school._

_Tea cranked up the boom box as the senior class settled down at the tables while watching Joey's Alligator Sword pounce on Tristan's Cyber Commander andtaking out the rest of his life points._

_Yami started arranging the plates as Grandpa retuned with the buns. "COME AND GET IT!"_

2 Hours Later...

_I "Oh my gosh that was awesome!" exclaimed Joey as he cheerfully walked up the stairs to Yami's bedroom.I Yami and Tristan followed suite.I_

_I "Well ya! You had like what-8 burgers? The Eat-a-burger-in-two-bites trophy can hereby be presented to Joey Wheeler!" retorted Tristan_

_""I only had six! And speaking of trophies, who would've known that Yami was such a good dancer! He totally beat us out - if only Tea didn't have to leave right after dinner!" gushed Joey as he seated himself j on the bed that was formerly Yugi's._

_Tristan plopped down next to his blond friend and elbowed him out of the way. "My turn on the bed! You can take the air mattress!"_

_"Hey!" yelled Joey as he launched himself back onto the bed to tackle Tristan. Yami watched them in amusement. "The air mattress is busted. There might be a spare bed in the attic."_

_He rose to get It. "I'll help you!" Joey gave Tristan one last elbow and scampered after Yami. _

_Yami opened the door to the attic and flicked the light switch. To his surprise, all of the old furniture was pushed up against the wall andthe boxes were neatly stacked up. The mattress was in the middle of the musty room. As he and Joey went to retrieve it, his eyes spotted a sheaf of notebook paper lying on top of it._

_Curious, Yami bent down to retrieve it. He immediatly recognized Yugi's handwriting andhis crimson eyes opened in shock as they scanned the short note._

High school is over and I'm leaving. I've had enough of being ignored and shunted to the side. This is my goodbye. Farewell -Yugi

_"Yami!" called Joey as his friend fell to his knees. _

Joey stepped over the mattress to help him. "Yami? You okay?" _Two strangled words forced their way out of Yami's shaking lips. "He's Gone." _

"What? What are you talking about?" asked Joey as he gently took the note from Yami's hand and read it _in the dim light. _

------

Tristan's thundering footsteps broke the eerie silence. "Ya guys! What's taking you so long? Need help? What the..."

_Joey was sitting on the mattress with his head in his hands. Yami's body trembled as the tears that were __escaping his eyes made their way down his face._

_"Yugi...I'm sorry...I'm so, so sorry..."_

_------_

_Out side, a plane headed east across the star lit sky._

_------_

Whew! So that's the prologue! It's really not my best writing so I might redo it. Chapter One is next and it'll probably be about Yugi. I'll alternate for each chapter. Warning: Ileana is very very bad about updating.

Please review! Feel free to tell me about what sucked and how it could be improved. I'm going to start each chapter with a song so please, no flames about my choice.


	2. Chapter 1: Since U Been Gone

Hey what did I tell you? Bingo! that Ileana's very very bad at updating! I'm sorry!!! I'll talk at the end cuz you probably want to read the story instead of my rambling.

Disclaimer: I don't own YGO, and I don' t own any of the songs that I'm using blah blah and this applies for the rest of the story. I also do not own Norwegion Cruise Lines or the _Norwegion Wind_.

This chapter is for cute-Baka, ISC, Kota-77, tiger witch, Sefie Lynne tilmitt, and animefreak54.

_------_

_Since you been gone  
I can breathe for the first time  
I'm so movin' on, yeah yeah  
Thanks to you now I get what I want  
Since you been gone_

------

"Mutou! Evans! You've been working since nine and you're only 2/3 down the hall?!?! GET MOVING!!!" the red faced moderator yelled as he did his 12 o'clock check on deck nine of the _M/S Norwegion Wind_. "You have more than ten rooms left and people start arriving at 1 o'clock! We leave for Canada at four! MOVE YOUR SORRY BEHINDS!!!" He reached for his hankerchief to wipe off the beads of sweat that had popped out of his foreheadalong with the spit that had collected on his chin and continued his ritual stop down the corridor.

Mark Evans and Yugi Mutou collapsed onto the twin bed that they had previously been working on. "Jeeze, he should try cleaning thirty rooms in four hours! With one good arm! Let's see how fast how fast he can move his butt then!" Said Mark as he looked out the window at the busy Los Angeles port.

"Speaking of, how is your hand?" inquired Yugi.

"What, this?" said Mark as he lifted his injured hand. "It's just a cut that I got from yesterday's housekeeping round. I don't want to split it open again so I've been working one handed. Come on, we really have to finish these rooms!"

The boys remade the bed that they had been lying on and finished cleaning the bathroom before they quickly moved onto the next room.

_...1 O'Clock..._

Yugi stood at his post on the left hallway of deck nine. He stood prepared to show the guests to their room. He fiddled with his name tag, labeled _Yugi Mutou, Japan,_ and his thoughts wandered back to another time in his life. He thought of his old friends often. At first, he had gotten mad at himself whenever he did, but eventually, he found out that it helped him heal and brought a sense of calmness.

His first two months in Los Angeles were spent washing dishes at a small downtown cafe. When he got invited to work for Norwegion Cruise Lines, he seized the chance. There was where he started to open himself up again and made friends. He felt perfectly comfortable because many of the other employees were from other countries. The long timers had welcomed them all with open arms and they were all a big family.

He also looked different from before. When first arrived in L.A, he had gotten some weird glances from random goons on the street. They probably had recognized him from all the articles written about him after Battle City. To make himself less obvious, Yugi had covered the his red streaks with blue dye. He had gained 6 inches in the past year and his eyes were now somewhat like Yami's but still had an innocent look.

Too bad Mark wasn't there. He was off helping the busboys because half of them were off on summer vacations. '_Serioiusly, you pay the cruise terminal for service but end up having to provide your own busboys so the luggage could actually get to the guests sometime before the cruise was over. What a joke!' _mused Yugi.

"Excuse me?"

Yugi turned around to find an elderly couple and their luggage. So much for the busboys.

"Yes ma'am? How may I help you?" asked Yugi.

"Do you know where room 9020 is?" asked the lady.

"Yes, please follow me." Yugi started for the other end of the hallway. The man walked briskly while lugging quite a few bags of luggage. The lady, on the other hand, was hobbling along with hers.

Yugi sighed. Jeeze, the old passengers never trust the busboys. Either that or they didn't want to pay the tip.

"Here, let me help you." offered Yugi as he retraced his steps back to the lady.

She protested, "No, I'm okay I-"

Yugi kept himself from rolling his eyes. "You don't have to pay me, the company does it for you." With that, he hoisted her bags up and continued down to room 9020.

_...3 O'Clock..._

The P.A. crackled life. _"Good afternoon and welcome to the _Norwegion Wind_. I am Captain Hanks and I will be your captain for this ..."_

Blah blah. Yugi walked out of room 9007 after ushering a newly wed couple to their cabins. Now he had to participate in the life boat drill that the captain was now informing the guests about. They did it every time before they set sail due to government regulations but honestly, Yugi thought that the drill was the most superfluous thing ever. If the ship ever crashed into an iceberg, which wasn't possible because it was July, everyone would probably panic and run to the first lifeboat that they saw.

Just as he was about to step out of the hallway into stairtower A, the elevator dinged and an elegantly dressed lady stepped out.

"Well hello! You must be our room steward! Well, show me to our penthouse!" said the woman.

Yugi pried his eyes off her hands, which he had previously been staring at. How did the elevator bring this lady and her rings up? She was wearing gems of every size, cut, and color! And lots of gold! It should have totally exceeded the poor lift's one ton limit.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Oh! Um...yeah...follow me" Yugi stammered.

The penthouses were the most expensive cabins on the ship. Once in her cabin, the lady started examining it. "Well well...my husband's coming shortly, he's giving the busboys careful instuctions on how to handle our luggage, but he'll want a few more pillows - the full and fluffed up ones - and I want some fresh cut flowers by the window here, and that corner of the floor might need a little more vaccuming, and..."

Yugi silently grunted. Why did the penthouse guestes always have to be the most fussy? And what's up with the whole fashionably late thing?

Poor him. Poor busboys.

_...11 O'Clock that night (at sea en route to Canada)..._

"OMFG my back so hurts from all those suitcases! Seriously, what do people keep in those?" moaned Mark as he stretched out on his bed. Yugi smiled as he climbed onto the bunk above.

The door opened and Andy Lin and Jesse Cornelius, their room mates, stumbled in. They immediatly flopped onto their own beds in a manner not unlike Mark's. Andy was from China and Jesse was from Ohio, they were the stewards on deck 4.

"Hey guys we have mail!" announced Jesse after settling into a comfortable position.

Mark instantly jumped up and grabbed it. "I'll read it!"

"I guess those sore arms just miraculously healed, huh?" muttered Yugi.

Ignoring his friend's comment, Mark began to read.

_Dear Employees of M/S Norwegion Wind,_

_This is a reminder that the Norwegion Wind will not be performing its weekly cruise to Canada next week. We are pleased to host a special event that will bring us to Hawaii for an extend time of 10 days. Further details will be available later this week._

_Sincerely,  
Captain Hanks_

"Why all the secrecy?" pondered Andrew. "They've been talking about this special event since forever, but they still don't have details?"

"And wait there's another sheet of paper!" called Mark. "It says... Yugi... We are pleased to inform you that you've been promoted to assistant waiter...starting...next week! Congrats, dude!"

"Wow...say aloha to assistant waiter and aloha to steward!" exclaimed Jesse.

"Yeah! Congrats!" chimed Andrew. "I can't believe it! Assistant waiter after only 10 months!"

"I...I can't believe it either..." stammered Yugi

But why did he feel a sense of forboding about all this?

_...Later..._

Yugi laid his head onto his pillow and sunk his face into its soft warmth. Assistant waiter...sigh...life on this ship was full of surprises...and plenty of hard work. Despite it all, Yugi thouroughingly enjoyed it. Here was his home, friends, and most of all, happiness.

With that, he let the hum ofengines sing him to sleep.

------

Woohoo there's that chapter. Before I go I have a few things to talk about...

Once again, this will be a non yaoi or yaoi fic. I won't emphasize either so it's all up to your imagination. Guardian/best friend or lover it's your choice.

Norwegion Cruise Lines is a real cruise company and the _Norwegion Wind_ is a very real ship!.I had sailed with the _Norwegion Majesty_ earlier this year, which has obviously inspired me to write about a cruise. It was going to be a hotel, but I changed my mind because a.) With a 10 day cruise, I can't back off, skip events, and/or make the story shorter, and b.) If Yugi saw Yami, he couldn't run away! He is stuck on the ship unless he wants to jump overboard.

"Wow...say aloha to assistant waiter and aloha to steward!" About this sentence...aloha's supposed to mean hello _and_ good bye...am I right?

btw what genre do you think this belongs in?

Please review! thanks, ileana


	3. Chapter 2: The Reason

This is amazing! My second update in month! Yay!

* * *

_I've found a reason to show  
A side of me you didn't know  
A reason for all that I do  
And the reason is you _

* * *

_...9 O'Clock..._

Yami looked around the shop one last time to make sure everything was in place. Satisfied, he reached for the door sign and switched it to OPEN. He settled into a stool behind the cashier and opened a catalog to finish ordering next week's shipments.

Business was doing really well that summer. The gaming industry was growing faster than ever and with the variety of new games coming out, the shop was always full of eager kids roaming around. The fact that he, the number one duelist in the world, was working there certainly didn't hurt either.

The bells on the door jingled. Yami looked up to find not his first costumer, but his friends walk in.

His friends. The sun seemed to shine five times brighter when they were around. They meant the world to him and he treasured them more then anything.

He owed his soul to Joey, Tristan, and Tea. It had been incinerated when Yugi had left. Lost. Shattered. They had felt the blow too and grieved with him. Tea had cried when he had. It hurted beyond anything physical he had ever been through. They weren't there to comfort or grief for him because it was what they were supposed to do. They were in the same distress. They had hurted just as much as he had.

"Hey Yami how's this fine morning been for you?" inquired Joey as he casually positioned himself against the counter.

"Very well, thank you. And you, sir?" replied Yami, playing along.

"Fine, thank you, ignoring the fact that a certain Mister gave me good sized bruise on the way here cofftristancoff."

Before Tristan could say anything to defend himself, the bells rang again and Yami's first customer, a ten year old boy, strolled in. As he was tenativly walking towards them, Tea leaned forward and asked Yami, "Hey, is there anything we can help you with today?"

Yami thought for a second and answered, "Well, there's a new shipment of Dungeon Dice merchandise out back. You can set it up if you want."

"We're on it! called Joey as he stepped though the door behind the cashier. Tristan and Tea followed suite.

With his friends away, Yami finally caught sight of the boy in front of him.

"Gasp. Oh My GOSH! It's true! It's really really true! You really really really work here!" squealed the kid when he saw Yami.

"Good morning!" said Yami politely. He was used to this form of reaction from customers, especially during the summer with all the tourists coming through. The shop was like an attraction in itself because of his presence. The next thing they did was ask for his autograph.

"OMG! Can I have your autograph? OMG! Please?"

"Sure." Yami replied as he pulled out a notepad. "What's your name?"

"Keith! My name is Keith!"

Yami nodded and wrote 'To Keith, Happy Gaming! Good luck, Yami Mutou. He had to write his name in such a way so that the word Yami was unlegible. That way they could believe that it said Yugi. Hey, what was he to do? Hold a press conference and say that he was actually an ancient egyptian Pharaoh who once resided in the gold upside down triangle thingy that Yugi once wore and would like to take claim to his various titles and change them to Yami Mutou?

...so ya, he remained Yugi Mutou.

"Hey Yugi, what cards would you recommend for me? How did you get so good? Will you play a game with me? Can see your God cards?" blurted Keith as he jumped up and down.

"The new booster pack, practice, not right now because I'm no longer an active duelist, and no because I don't have them me." answered an already weary Yami. This kid was probably going to be around for a few hours. They never get the fact that he no longer dueled. Just looking at his deck was painful. Picking it up and playing with it would take more energy and tolerance than he had. At least thats what happened that last time he tried, which was eight months ago.

Yugi's departure could possibly be the most influential event in his life. Yami hadn't purposly driven him away...he just sort of assumed that his hikari would always be there. Not having the same body took away a lot of communication time so they started to drift away. Then the rest just sort of happened

He looked for him. Definately. Long, hot days and sometimes nights were spent on the streets desperately looking for Yugi. After a while, he begged Seto Kaiba to help. He wanted, needed,to find his light, to apologize and to be his protector once more. But there was a little thing in the back of his mind that told him that he wouldn't find him. All he could hope for was to have fate someday bring them together again.

What about Grandpa, you might be asking. Yami couldn't bring himself to tell him. It would devastate the old man, who would then blame himself. Then there was that same little thing in his head that blamed his pride. He would be so ashamed to tell the elder Mutou that he had abandoned his grandson and caused him to run away. He already was. Ashamed, that is. So he forced himself to sit down with Grandpa and tell him that Yugi had decided to study in England. He (Grandpa) was surprised, but considering how withdrawn Yugi had been before he left, it seemed somewhat reasonable. Currently, he was in Egypt with some old friends.

Tea went to New York, as planned, to study dance. Tristan moved to a northern Honshu for college and Joey chose to take a few courses at a local place. Although they had kept in touch, Yami was still relieved to have them back for the summer.

He changed too. More mature. Not that he wasn't before, but it seemed that Yugi had given him the final push to adulthood. No more life or death duels. Not that he wanted to duel. To the world, he was "taking time off". His name was still big though. Winning a few big titles tend to have that lasting effect. Right now, Yami was considering whether to take a few classes at the place Joey went to.

An eager, high voice pulled Yami from his daydreams. "So Yugi, what do you think of the new duel disks?" Keith inquired.

Sigh.

_...later..._

"All set for lunch, guys?" asked Tristan as he made his way out of the shop.

Yami locked up and followed his friends to a nearby cafe for lunch break.

"Hey wait! You have mail!" pointed out Tea as she motioned towards the stack of catalogs in the mailbox. A single letter was sticking out of the mess.

"Let's see if it's from Grandpa!" Joey grabbed the letter. "Ooh...its from Peggy."

Yami's pulse quickened as he opened it. He and Maximillion Pegasus were on good terms so he wasn't worried or anything, but this certain letter seemed to have an aurora of...well, mystery. Like it was going to be a trigger to a big chain of events.

* * *

This chapter is here thanks to: 

**animefreak54: **Isn't it weird? Yugi working on a ship...I'm going to have a lot of fun with that!

**ISC:**You're I-Shave-Clowns, right? Wow it took me a long time to figure that out...

**tiger witch: **THANK YOU! thanks so so much for pointing that out! I tried to replace chapter 1 because I had fixed some errors but ended up getting rid of the prologue. I guess your computer reflected the change first so I was able to retrieve it before it was permanently gone. THANKS!

**Eternal Slush: **Hey thanks for reading my new fic. My other story is on hold until I can come up with some ideas for the final chapter.

**MikariStar: **Welcome back! Glad you're still reading!

**personnumer2: **Don't die! I'll work harder! Really!

**zapper133: **This is currently the story that I'm working the hardest on. You'll definatly expect more.

**Silver Pain: **Hey thanks for checking out for writing! UR THE 2ND TWITCHY PERSON I'VE MET ON FF! ya this is like my penname/username/screename for everything.

**DiZZylitIouS:** I updataed on the second and today is the thirty-first of January. TWICE IN A MONTH! I feel so good about myself! I hope I can do something for February!

**Sefie Lynne tilmitt: **I can't live without the internet! I feel so so bad for you! Don't get in trouble! The people in our library are so...meow.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

I'm sure that Seto would have found Yugi by either a. paying the airport for information or b. personally hacking into their server themselves. He's a smart guy, but it's vital that he doesn't do either of the above.

This chapter was summary of what happened during the year after Yugi left. The action is definatly going to kick upin the chapter after the next.

I'm going to change the title of this story to _'Reunited by the Wind'_ next chapter. (get it? they will meet again on the _Norwegion Wind) _I had written the prologue and realized that I didn't have a title! I thought for fifteen minutes and finally typed _'And So We Meet Again', _which is really not best thing ever.

I'll try to update in February! If not...I'm sorry! It's not like I forget. In fact, I think about this story every day. I just need to get into the 'mood'. My average updating time is like...2-3 months/chapter!

Oops. You didn't need to know that. -dodges tomatoes and yells- plz review!


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